Mother's story of shooting changes

Saturday

Aug 17, 2013 at 12:01 AM

STOCKTON - A woman who was arrested after a gun accidentally discharged and shot her 8-year-old daughter in the foot told investigators she had the loaded, sawed-off shotgun to protect herself from a harasser.

Jennie Rodriguez-Moore

STOCKTON - A woman who was arrested after a gun accidentally discharged and shot her 8-year-old daughter in the foot told investigators she had the loaded, sawed-off shotgun to protect herself from a harasser.

Aurora Eileen Almaraz, 32, told officers she planned to kill the harasser if she had to do so, according to a returned search warrant.

The explanation is one of various versions Alamaraz gave investigators.

The child also provided police with a statement, saying she heard a boom and realized she had been shot, but she didn't know who had done it or how it happened.

Prosecutors are charging the girl's mother with child abuse/endangerment and enhancements of great bodily injury and use of a firearm in the girl's shooting.

Almaraz also is charged with three more counts of child abuse/endangerment for placing her three other children in danger.

Court documents say Stockton police received a 911 call on July 25 from a woman who said she was driving by a home in the 6800 block of Allegheny Place when she saw Almaraz running out the door carrying a bleeding child.

The driver stopped to help and noticed the girl was missing part of her foot. A car showed up to pick up Almaraz and the injured child.

Stockton police later confirmed the girl was taken to Dameron Hospital for treatment, court documents say.

Officers arrived at the home and found a large pool of blood in the kitchen and a duffle bag on the living room floor that appeared to have been shredded from the inside out, according to court documents. Its condition was consistent with a shotgun having been fired from inside.

Police interviewed Almaraz following a report from hospital staff that the girl had been dropped off with a gunshot wound.

Almaraz told various conflicting accounts, including initially that there was a drive-by shooting at her house.

When pressed that evidence didn't match those claims, she said someone ran into the house and shot the child.

In the latest account, she said a woman named "Chrissy" has been causing problems, and she wanted to protect herself from her.

"Aurora then said that she was inside her home with (the child) when she heard a gunshot and found (the child) on the ground suffering from a gunshot wound to the foot," court papers say. "When asked, Aurora refused to allow officers to conduct a search of her home."

Officers noticed Alamaraz appeared to be intoxicated.

Almaraz is in custody at the San Joaquin County Jail, with bail set at $700,000. She was arraigned July 29 and was ordered to stay away from the victim and her other three children.